Crawford County man charged in death of missing LeBoeuf Township man

Police are investigating this Crawford County home on Sept. 26, located in the 21300 block of Teepeville Flatts Road, which is owned by a man accused of killing a LeBeouf Township man on Sept. 14. TIM HAHNERIE TIMES-NEWS

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State police believe Gerald P. VanDyke headed to the home of his longtime live-in girlfriend's father sometime during the morning of Sept. 14.

He traveled 7 miles from his home on Smith Road in LeBoeuf Township in Erie County to Richard Houy's ranch-style house in Rockdale Township, Crawford County, passing cornfields, horse pastures and idle farmland, their brush starting to show the colors of fall.

Investigators also believe that sometime after reaching the red brick ranch house at 21300 Teepleville Flats Road, VanDyke, 55, was killed by Houy, 68.

How VanDyke was killed, and what became of his body and his pickup truck, were among the mysteries police were still trying to solve Thursday as Houy sat in the Crawford County Correctional Facility without bond on charges of criminal homicide, criminal use of a communications facility, tampering with evidence and false reports to law enforcement.

Neither VanDyke's body nor the truck had been found as of Thursday.

The announcement of Houy's arraignment early Thursday ended one lingering mystery: what became of VanDyke.

He was reported missing to state police in Corry on the afternoon of Sept. 15 by Houy, Houy's wife and their daughter, who was in a longtime relationship with VanDyke, police said. They told troopers that VanDyke, a truck driver, was last seen leaving his Smith Road residence at about 9 a.m. on Sept. 14.

Houy's daughter also told police that she was terminating her relationship with VanDyke, and had hired an attorney to split the 26 acres of land they jointly owned, according to police.

Police issued an appeal to the public for information on VanDyke's whereabouts several days later. They issued another earlier this week, when they asked property owners to be on the lookout for VanDyke's silver Dodge Dakota pickup.

Houy became a person of interest in the case on Sept. 20, when he was first suspected of being the source of two anonymous phone calls made to state police about VanDyke's possible whereabouts, according to information in the affidavit of probable cause that was filed with a search warrant for Houy's residence.

In both calls, made the morning of Sept. 18, the caller told police VanDyke indicated that he was leaving town and didn't want anyone to know where he was going.

Police traced one call to the cell phone of a man who said he let a man use his phone to call state police while the two were at a store in McKean, according to the affidavit.

Troopers played recordings of the calls for VanDyke's son, and he said the caller in both sounded like Houy, police said.

Houy and Houy's daughter were interviewed by troopers Wednesday. Houy at first denied making the anonymous phone calls. He later admitted to it, but did not say why, according to the affidavit.

Houy's daughter told investigators that Houy went to the Smith Road residence on Sept. 14, the day VanDyke was last seen, and was agitated and "had plans to lure (VanDyke) to this residence," according to the affidavit. She told police she begged Houy not to, because she knew that Houy wished to cause VanDyke harm.

Houy's daughter told investigators that she left the residence and when she later returned, a woman told her that Houy came back and asked VanDyke to help him fix a tractor at Houy's residence. Houy's daughter said that at about midnight on Sept. 14, she went to Houy's residence and was led by Houy to a barn on his property, where she saw droplets on the ground that she believed to be blood and a container that appeared to hold blood, according to the affidavit.

Houy's daughter said she also saw a chain saw that she believed was used to dismember VanDyke, and a wooden box that she believed might have contained VanDyke's body, police wrote in the affidavit.

She said Houy told her that he struck VanDyke in the head with a tire iron or some type of metal bar, and he led her to believe that VanDyke's body, "in whole or in parts," was placed in barrels or drums within the barn, according to the affidavit.

Houy was re-interviewed by investigators late Wednesday night. He said after he and VanDyke reached Houy's residence on Sept. 14, they began to argue about the relationship with his daughter and Houy punched VanDyke in the face, causing VanDyke to fall and strike his head on a piece of machinery, according to the affidavit.

Houy told police he put VanDyke's body in VanDyke's pickup truck and drove it to the French Creek access on nearby Miller Station Road, put VanDyke's body into French Creek and left the truck, according to the affidavit.

TIM HAHN can be reached at 870-1731 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNhahn.

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MORE ON CRIME: To see more coverage of crime in the Erie area, including Erie County’s Most Wanted and a map of incidents in Erie and Millcreek Township, click here.